Fox NewsA breast cancer awareness campaign went viral after a 38-year-old patient shared the image of 12 lemons, each showing a different sign of breast cancer, on social media. Erin Smith Chieze originally found a similar image two years ago, and credited it with saving her life after she used it for reference and was subsequently diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. Her Jan. 10 Facebook post was shared over 33,000 times.READ MORE

The Washington PostGetting cancer is scary. Discovering that your health plan doesn’t give you access to leading cancer centers may make the diagnosis even more daunting.
As insurers participating in the health marketplace shrink their provider networks and slash the number of plans that offer out-of-network coverage, some consumers with cancer are learning that their treatment options can sometimes be limited.READ MORE

Phys.orgGuan-En Graham is determined to find out exactly what happened to her father. When she was a child, he developed brain cancer. Since then, she has worked to understand the intricate genetic mechanisms that trigger brain diseases so that one day, perhaps, she can shut them down for good. Now Graham might have the tool to do it. In the lab of Jeremy Day, Ph.D., the sophomore neuroscience major from Las Vegas is part of a UAB research team investigating CRISPR, a piece of gene-editing technology that could have the potential to prevent disease before patients start to suffer.
READ MORE

MedPage TodayWomen without any symptoms of multiple sclerosis who had a higher genetic and environmental risk score had a greater burden of subclinical manifestations of the disease than those with a lower score, researchers reported.
Using the Genetic and Environmental Risk Score for Multiple Sclerosis Susceptibility tool, higher-risk women had more potential neurological dysfunction than women at lower risk, with impaired vibration perception in the distal lower extremities being the most pronounced result in a subgroup analysis, according to Daniel Reich, M.D., Ph.D., director of the translational neuroradiology unit at the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, and colleagues.READ MORE

Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute via ScienceDailyResearchers have discovered a new biological target for drugs to reduce the spread of tumors in cancer patients. The study with genetically modified mice found 23 genes that are involved in regulating the spread of cancers. The researchers showed that targeting one of these genes — Spns2 — led to a three-quarters reduction in tumor spread.READ MORE

MIT Technology ReviewIn a dream Brian Hanley told me about, he’s riding a bus when he meets a man in dark leather clothing. Next thing he knows, he is splayed across a tilted metal bed, being electrocuted.
The dream was no doubt connected to events that took place last June at a plastic surgeon’s office in Davis, California. At Hanley’s request, a doctor had injected into his thighs copies of a gene that Hanley, a Ph.D. microbiologist, had designed and ordered from a research supply company.READ MORE

Genoptix Medical LaboratoryGenoptix, a Novartis company, is a leading CAP-accredited and CLIA-certified specialized laboratory focused on delivering diagnostic services to hematology/oncology patients and the physicians who treat them.

The New York TimesIn 2001, President George W. Bush issued an executive order banning federal funding for new sources of stem cells developed from preimplantation human embryos. The action stalled research and discouraged scientists.
Five years later, a Kyoto University scientist, Shinya Yamanaka, and his graduate student, Kazutoshi Takahashi, re-energized the field by devising a technique to “reprogram” any adult cell, such as a skin cell, and coax it back to its earliest “pluripotent” stage.READ MORE

Penn State via ScienceDailyA process using human stem cells can generate the cells that cover the external surface of a human heart — epicardium cells — according to a multidisciplinary team of researchers.
"In 2012, we discovered that if we treated human stem cells with chemicals that sequentially activate and inhibit Wnt signaling pathway, they become myocardium muscle cells," said Xiaojun Lance Lian, assistant professor of biomedical engineering and biology, who is leading the study at Penn State.READ MORE

The Wall Street JournalTechnology has not been a miraculous cure for efficiency and cost problems in the healthcare industry. Certainly, research and development in medical devices and treatments is the foundation of medical advancement. But success has been less definitive in applying enterprise IT services, including electronic medical records, to the operations in hospitals and doctors’ Maybe mobile will make the difference.READ MORE

ForbesIn 1999, the first fully sequenced human genome cost roughly $3 billion to complete. By 2007, the cost had decreased to a couple of million dollars, and today it is around $1,000. BGI, a Shenzhen-based company, thinks it can drive the cost down to $200.
Its confidence is not misplaced. BGI has already invested hundreds of millions of dollars, and is at the forefront of a technology revolution known as next generation sequencing, which allows genomics testing to be done at a scale and speed that was previously impossible. READ MORE

CIOThe healthcare headlines this year have been dominated by the imminent repeal of the Affordable Care Act. However, against the backdrop of a long-term transition to value-based care, a handful of emerging technology initiatives are quietly making news in advancing precision medicine in healthcare.READ MORE

Fox BusinessThe more than 7,500 gene sequencing machines deployed at its clients are already reshaping drug discovery, but Illumina's latest advance in gene sequencing could lead to explosive growth in personalized medicine. At J.P. Morgan's annual healthcare conference this week, Illumina reported plans to launch new machines that could reduce the cost of gene sequencing to as little as $100 — an amount unthinkable a decade ago. Will these new machines accelerate the shift to personalized medicine?READ MORE

PatientEngagementHITWith more Medicare payments tied to valued-based reimbursement and ACOs, providers need practical patient-centered care strategies to improve outcomes.
As the healthcare industry continues to embrace value-based reimbursement models, accountable care organizations need a strong grip on practical patient-centered care strategies in order to remain competitive, according to a viewpoint published in the American Journal of Managed Care.READ MORE

Healthcare IT NewsA new model of healthcare means provider organizations need to mobilize and marshal their resources to develop a coordinated, more efficient process of care, according to Tim Pletcher, executive director of the Michigan Health Information Network.
Effective patient-centered care requires a clear understanding of which doctors, organizations and other care providers are actively involved in a person’s care, he added, and new approaches to care such as precision medicine further heighten the need for an effective process to link, or attribute, patients to providers, Pletcher said.READ MORE

MedscapeDigital therapy could soon be prescribed and reimbursed like a pharmaceutical drug for patients with chronic substance use disorder.
"This could be a watershed moment for digital health," said Corey McCann, M.D., Ph.D., chief executive officer of Pear Therapeutics, the developer of the software. The product, known as reSET, is currently under review by the US Food and Drug Administration, and there have been "a lot of positive conversations back and forth with the FDA," he reported.READ MORE

ReutersMerck & Co. has pulled ahead of rivals in the race to combine immunotherapy with other drugs as a treatment for lung cancer, potentially giving it a major lift in the battle for the largest cancer market.
U.S. regulators have agreed to a speedy review of Merck's application to combine its immune system-boosting drug Keytruda with chemotherapy as an initial therapy for advanced lung cancer, the U.S. drugmaker said.READ MORE

ABC NewsThe rise of drug-resistant bacterial "superbugs" have been a concern of public health officials for years, but the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported a worse-case scenario — a woman with a bacterial infection that was resistant to all FDA-approved treatments.
A Nevada woman died in September after being infected with type of drug-resistant bacteria called Klebsiella pneumonaiae that was resistant to all antibiotics available in the U.S., the CDC reported on Friday.READ MORE

CNBCTurbulence and turmoil in the healthcare industry will only prove to be temporary in spite of the uncertainties in the U.S., according to Royal Philips' chief executive.
Frans Van Houten, chief executive of the medical equipment and technology firm, described the current situation in the U.S. healthcare industry as "uncertain" however he remained confident the negative sentiment surrounding healthcare stocks would be reversed in time.READ MORE

The Associated Press via CBS NewsPresident-elect Donald Trump says his plan to replace the nation’s healthcare law will include “insurance for everybody.”
Trump made the comment in an interview with the Washington Post published on Sunday.
The president-elect says: “We’re going to have insurance for everybody. There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can’t pay for it, you don’t get it. That’s not going to happen with us.”READ MORE

NAMCP UPDATES

Last month, Novo Nordisk received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for the New Drug Application (NDA) for Xultophy® 100/3.6. Xultophy® 100/3.6 is a combination of insulin degludec and liraglutide, indicated as an adjunct to diet and exercise to improve glycemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus inadequately controlled on basal insulin or liraglutide. The FDA has required Novo Nordisk to distribute the safety notice as part of the Xultophy® 100/3.6 REMS program. Click Here for the Letter. Click Here for the fact sheet.

Courtagen Life Sciences, Inc., an innovative molecular information company focused on providing genetic diagnoses for neurological conditions through next generation sequencing, offers a broad range of genetic testing panels for epilepsy, including recently-added epiSEEK® Spotlight Panels designed to target genes that have been reported in association with specific phenotypes for epilepsy and seizure disorders. Please click here for more information.

Based on published clinical data, Humana, Medical Mutual of Ohio and Preferred One independently determined and published policies stating that Biodesix’ VeriStrat® test can be considered medically necessary for patients with advanced NSCLC. The VeriStrat test provides physicians with prognostic and predictive information to inform treatment of advanced NSCLC, and can facilitate patient-physician conversations about prognosis, life expectancy, and treatment recommendations. Click here for more information.

The treatment cost for colorectal cancer (CRC) patients in the U.S. is approximately $14 billion a year and is projected to rise through 2020. To help managed care professionals more effectively analyze medical and pharmacy claims, Bayer has developed the “Treatment and Analysis of Colorectal Cancer Evidence” (TRACE) Analyzer. Click here for more information and who to contact.

In a recently published study, researchers demonstrated that the DecisionDx-UM gene expression profile test accurately predicts metastatic risk for uveal melanoma patients and is being used by physicians to appropriately guide patient care decisions with the ultimate goal to improve net health outcomes. Please click here to review the full press release.